Odysseus' ship passing the Sirens. The hero has been tied to the mast so that he can hear their beautiful song. Painting on an Athenian jar in the British Museum;
In our gradually shrinking world, everyone is in need of all the others. We must look for man wherever we can find him. When on his way to Thebes Oedipus encountered the Sphinx, his answer to its riddle was: «Man». That simple word destroyed the monster. We have many monsters to destroy. Let us think of the answer of Oedipus., George Seferis, speech at the Nobel Banquet 1963
This is an elegant, instructive fable, and seems invented to represent science, especially as joined with practice. For science may, without absurdity, be called a monster, being strangely gazed at and admired by the ignorant and unskilful. Her figure and form is various, by reason of the vast variety of subjects that science considers; her voice and countenance are represented female, by reason of her gay appearance... Francis Bacon, Sphinx, or Science Explained of the Sciences
